YOUR OPINION: Letters to the Editor December 27, 2012

Mental illness, not guns causes mass tragedies
There they go again.
The liberals in congress are pushing their gun control agenda before the tears are wiped away and before we can mourn the loss of the young victims of a horrific crime. I didn’t hear that we should ban trucks, fuel oil, and fertilizer after the Oklahoma City bombing or that we should ban airplanes after the World Trade Center towers were hit. The people involved in the recent epidemic of killings are/were mentally ill. We need to get to the source of the illness and it is not the real, hold in your hands, type of guns. It is the culture change in America that has been evolving since the 1960’s
It is the filth and violence that we allow in our homes via television, internet, and video games. It’s the 0.1 percent or less that we read about or see on television.
I grew up in the 40’s and 50’s. We had guns. Schools may as well have been closed on the first day of hunting season because very few boys were in attendance as all were hunting. I do not recall of any mass shootings when growing up. Moms were home to take care of the kids. Families went to church on Sunday. What television shows that were available were good family orientated shows.
From the 60’s on we allowed anything and everything to be showered on our youth in the name of free speech. Oh, sure, we have ratings that are supposed to control what a youth may or may not see or do, but do you really believe this is being followed
Therefore, parents will need to step up to the plate and make changes in their own households including placing people in congress that will make the necessary changes and that change is not gun control.Terry DuffordTupelo